Winding Down

Summer is almost over. Matthew goes back to school on Monday and Samantha is already six weeks old. This summer needs to slow down because we are still enjoying some of our favorite summertime things too much.

Things like;

Birthday celebrations

Grammy's birthday earlier this month

Little Dresses

That play is good for a .. first down!

Zucchini (served in a chocolate cake baked from scratch)  Recipe.  

Lounging in the shade

Sunday drives

Naming tree frogs

Super Frog photographed here

Watching butterflies and hummingbirds flock to the butterfly bush in our yard

Celebrating

This week I am celebrating …

That Samantha is a one-month-old. Already?! 

The grand opening of Sports Place. Matthew brought his basketball hoop, hockey net, soccer ball, lacrosse stick, football, and boom ball set on our deck. He was all set to play sports but first came up with the brilliant idea that, “Actually, this is a sports store called Sports Place.” Here is what else;

You can order things online at sportsplace.com that won’t fit in your car.

When you pick up the store phone you have to say, “Sports Place, where you can play any sports!” 

There are sports for older kids at ages, 6, 10, and 8 but they are not in season. 

Bowling will be starting this season. 

The cookies I gave him for snack were good and we can sell them in our store. 

Our first trip to the drive inn as a family of four.

Early on

A little before the movie began

He stayed awake for half the movie

Getting thisclose to getting Matthew to eat birthday chicken (chicken with sauce) and pirate potato boats (twice baked potatoes.) At least he ate all his pirates (carrots). 

That Matthew ran into the room to tell me, “Samantha smiled at me like a real person!” 

The naïve portrayal of Darth Vader that Matthew has. When “Dark Vader” comes swooping by on his Trio Block built spaceship he hums an upbeat tune one might associate with a bakery rather than the dark side. 

Seeing signs of the next season.

Our pumpkins are starting to grow

Marveling

This week, I’ve been marveling that …

August has slipped in. Last week we went blueberry picking at the farm, a yearly tradition since Matthew was a newborn. I baked a blueberry and nectarine crumble with our findings. 

A conversation between two little ones never fails to amuse me.

Girl at playground: Pretend this is our house and the kitchen is here.

Matthew: And who wants to be Buzz Lightyear?

Girl at playground: I’ll be Carly and you can be Freddie.

Matthew: Let’s play pirate ship okay? 

In the same amount of time that it took to get the kids and I fed, dressed, and settled into activities (sleeping for Sam, coloring for Matt, uploading pictures for me) the Bobs had built a patio.

The ten thousand many times a four-year-old needs to hear that he has to finish his hot dog and grapes before he can have a much coveted cookie.

The best play things come from nature.

I couldn’t put this book Little Bee down, about a 16-year old refugee from Nigeria. Matthew has been enjoying a new book this week too called, Do Not Build AFrankenstein. We’ve read it over and over again.

A baby can sleep through what I’ll refer to as the-superglue-in-the-eye-incident, and a train ride, but not through a dark and quiet night. 

I still hold our baby to watch her sleep for awhile during those middle of the night feedings. It’s harder not to.

The body can adjust to the sleep deprivation caused by a newborn. A four-hour stretch feels equivalent to sleeping in until noon.

Matthew walks about with “spy gadgets” that he built from Trio Blocks in the waistband of his pants.

A list of eight simple rules on the bulletin board of our kitchen has made all the difference in a short time. 

 

Football Dollface(s)

 Matthew was three-months-old when we took him to his first Patriots practice. He was small enough to fit into a build a bear Patriots Jersey. Mike came with us. I remember the experience being mildly boring except for when I was stressed while trying to get Matt to nurse in the filthy bathroom. I do feel a sense of accomplishment after the fact as Matthew can tell you that he’s been going to see the Patriots at Gillette since before he can remember. In this family something like that holds him in high esteem.  

Namely for the sake of tradition we took Samantha at nineteen-days-old to her first Patriots practice. We opted for her to wear a pink team onsie which was a gift from Mike. He could not join us as he now works for the Patriots and was sitting the press box. The practice was still as mildly boring as I remembered it being, but with a four-year-old shouting whichever football chants or player names that came to mind, I found myself having quite a bit of fun. If you saw me nurse, Samantha in the filthy bathroom you would think we did it everyday. When it was time to go I felt a sense of accomplishment solely for the reason that everyone had a really good time.